TOTM September 2020 - The Ammunition Shortage

At Academy I see a lot of 243 Winchester. Sometimes 3030 when they get it but it goes fast. Still no pistol ammo.

 

Still have 9mm and other pistol calibres here but they limit you to two boxes per visit.

 

Plenty of wildly over-priced ammo available at this past weekend's gun show...I saw one vendor that was down to his last 500 pack of .22 lr...with a $90 price tag on it. 9mm and .45 acp was averaging $1.50 per round, and this was plain jane ball round, not "specialty" self defense offerings...those were pushing $2/rd and up.
On the other end of the spectrum, a gent had old 8lb kegs of unique for $40...but not knowing the history of it, I shied away from it. (Old as in I havn't seen that container since the eighties)
Pistol and sm. rifle primers were in evidence, with prices all over the place. Ditto 209s...but they were pretty much in the $10/100 range...can pick those up at Academy for less than that.
Lots of entry level ARs in the 650-750 range (new) and surprisingly a whole bunch of Garands in the 1500 ballpark.
Couple of Universal M1 carbines...250, but rode hard and put away wet...not that I'd recommend one of those anyway...and no ammo for them.
Shotgun ammo was slim pickings, but it was available...again, for a price.
Silly thing of the day was a very well-worn .177 pump pistol for $250...wow!

What got me the most were people buying 3 or 4 long guns...and no ammo.
Maybe they have a box at home to share....

 

Around here there is ammo but most shops have a two box limit. Prices are higher than I'm willing to spend, having met my storage goals back in the 90's. I have instead chosen to rebuild what we used up during the lockdown, and admit that is was more than anticipated.

 

My new strategy is to get what I can get when I can get it! But don't over pay.

 

Still seeing ammo fly off the shelves locally. Most have a 2 box limit per caliber

 

There are several opinions and reasons as to why there are ammunition and components shortages. All I know is both are true for the most part. With that I'm glad I practice the 7P principle. Hope everyone stays safe.

 

There's no ammo shortage if you reload and you bought enough primers before hand.
Powder is still available.
In my hiberus I ran out of H110. I could have broke into my AA9 stash, but instead I just bought a keg of H110. All the 1lb cans of H110 were sold out.
Bullets are available enough.
Cast lead bullets for pistols are available most places and the more expensive rifle bullets are available most places.

The first person who can get a conex of S&B or PPV primers into the county will be able to live a long life die very rich.

 

I have accumulated so many 12 and 20 gauge shotgun shells I can join a trap league!

 

You can sell 12ga shells, people will buy them. Think I saw them going for up to $9 per hundred for low brass AA style shells.